Council extends watch on Somalia arms flows
The UN Security Council voted yesterday to monitor illegal arms flows in Somalia for another six months, with an eye to tightening an arms embargo imposed on the East African country 12 years ago. The 15-nation council unanimously adopted a resolution stressing the obligation of all 191 UN member-states to comply fully with the 1992 weapons ban and ''expressing its determination that violators should be held accountable." The vote came a day after a Nairobi-based UN monitoring group reported the ban was being routinely violated, fueling a cycle of violence that has killed hundreds in recent months and supplying arms to Kenya. (Reuters)
Serbia-Montenegro
Parliament restores coat of arms, anthem
BELGRADE -- Serbia restored its 19th-century anthem and ancient coat of arms yesterday, harkening back to its royal history as its people struggle with economic and social hardships. The emblems represented Serbia before it merged in 1918 with its Balkan neighbors to form Yugoslavia. The 183 lawmakers in Parliament voted unanimously to adopt the once-royal symbols, despite criticism they were inappropriate for the republic sharing sovereignty with Montenegro. ''These symbols are Serbia's true ones," said Parliament Speaker Predrag Markovic, who insisted Serbia needed to replace its current coat of arms featuring the five-pointed communist Red Star. The historic coat of arms dates to the Middle Ages and features a cross, a crown and a double-headed white eagle. The anthem -- ''Boze Pravde," or ''God of Justice" -- once contained lyrics referring to the Serbian king. It has been rephrased to avoid that reference, but for many it still symbolizes an oath to a monarch as well as to the country. (AP)
Italy
Bomb threat at airport turns out to be hoax
ROME -- A bomb threat against Rome airport sent in an e-mail opened by security officers yesterday turned out to be a hoax. It had been sent Monday and remained unopened for a whole day. The failure of the security firm at Rome's Fiumicino international airport to open the e-mail came despite a heightened state of alert due to recent threats by Islamist militants against Italy, court officials told Reuters. Sending hoax bomb warnings is a crime under Italian law. Islamist militants have reiterated threats to attack Italy in recent days. One group, the Abu Hafs al-Masiri Brigades, said its deadline for Italy to pull troops out of Iraq expired last Sunday and called on its members to hit ''all targets" in Italy. Interior Minister Giuseppe Pisanu said Sunday he did not exclude the possibility that ''dormant or partially active terrorist groups or even lone individuals could mobilize unexpectedly and make a direct hit on our territory." (Reuters)
India
Court orders reopening of 2002 violence probe
NEW DELHI -- India's Supreme Court yesterday ordered the government of western Gujarat state to reopen its investigation of Hindu-Muslim violence two years ago in which an estimated 1,000 people were killed. The court criticized local police officials for poor investigation and follow-up in more than 2,000 cases. Most of those killed in the violence were Muslims. (
Iran
Nation warns of action if reactor is attacked
TEHRAN -- Accompanied by a warning that its missiles have the range, Iran yesterday said it would destroy Israel's Dimona nuclear reactor if the Jewish state were to attack Iran's nuclear facilities. ''If Israel fires a missile into the Bushehr nuclear power plant, it has to say goodbye forever to its Dimona nuclear facility, where it produces and stockpiles nuclear weapons," the deputy chief of the elite Revolutionary Guards, Brigadier General Mohammad Baqer Zolqadr, said in a statement. (AP)
